I get to go camping at Ludington tomorow! We're only going overnight, but this is probably a good thing, because we're taking our daughter with us, and I imagine it will be a learning experience for all of us.

My education is only aimed at biology from this point on (not that I do not mind some geo-ecology, but it is simply not that fun) and I found myself a copy of Oriental Adventures for a low price the other day!

Oroshi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yl8YoGAzj0) (not my favorite song-I cringe whenever I watch this video) Whatever. I'm just happy the run (the ending part of the song) didn't turn out too badly. Our previous practices before the performance had been horrendous. Our teachers were so impressed with us afterwards. They said they'd never seen such a good Oroshi before. That made me happeh. Hahaha! Aaaaaand I just found the 08 video of Oroshi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQjz9COdXpA). They weren't too bad considering there were a ton of people playing. Even so, they were going in a straight line. That makes it easier when it's time to do the run. Whatever.

I think we all did well doing that stinkin' song. It's scary as balls up there on stage. I'm just happy that we all remembered what we were supposed to do.

Here's the video ofSuwatte. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNIFEVB7NEQ) This is one of my FAVORITE songs (along with Fushu, which I'm currently learning). I was so excited when my teachers let me play suwatte style with the intermediate group. I'm the one on the far left. :D

Well, the maximum recommended amount is a bit under 4 times the maximum recommended amount, and beef liver has 400% the recommended daily value in each serving. Even that's not enough to do anything, unless you eat it frequently, which I plan to do. So basically you only have to worry about it with specific species' livers, or if you're eating lots of liver frequently.

I finally got to run a game yesterday for the first time in about two years.

It was a fairly simple session. The two players still had some finalizing to do on their PCs (I'm attempting this game with a massive set of house rules), but it didn't take too long. Still, they got the lay of the land of the city they're in, they met a few people that can help provide plot hooks, did some roleplaying, and kicked in some gang member's heads. The first attack roll the first player rolled was even a crit. Fun times by all.

One of the mutant proteins that I designed and constructed in my previous post-doc is working very well in follow-up experiments with it. I was worried that all the work I'd done on that project was going to be a waste of the last two years of my life. I am very happy! :jumping

I have shingles!!!!!!!! Wait...... I mean the good part is that I managed to break in time to avoid killing those two kittens out of the group of 2 adults and 3 kittens living on the side of the road......... wait now I remember my college golf class is going to be meeting at the place 3 minutes from where I live as opposed to any of the others that would be 45 minutes away. And I got free food today.

I have shingles!!!!!!!! Wait...... I mean the good part is that I managed to break in time to avoid killing those two kittens out of the group of 2 adults and 3 kittens living on the side of the road......... wait now I remember my college golf class is going to be meeting at the place 3 minutes from where I live as opposed to any of the others that would be 45 minutes away. And I got free food today.

I have shingles!!!!!!!! Wait...... I mean the good part is that I managed to break in time to avoid killing those two kittens out of the group of 2 adults and 3 kittens living on the side of the road......... wait now I remember my college golf class is going to be meeting at the place 3 minutes from where I live as opposed to any of the others that would be 45 minutes away. And I got free food today.

A cookie for being kind enough to brake for small animals :D

Horrible as I am this remembers me of a story a friend told me about.

Someone he knew was out driving, also managing to drive over a cat. As he stepped out of the car to find it he saw it in the grass, also noticing it was not dead. After the painful procedure of strangling the cat (yes, he did just that) he goes to the house that the cat ran out from, realising it was where it used to live. The family is sad, of course, but realises it was an accident and forgives him. As he drives off to work (he was heading there from the beginning) nothing happens. But during lunch a guy at his work shows up and says "Hey ****, did you know there is a dead cat stuck in the front of your car?". As the realisation strikes him he drives back and how to explain to the family how he had managed to road-kill the first cat and strangled their other.

Sad as it is, when he told me this story all of us had to fight to hold back the tears from laughing. Also, two or three other "fun" stories of cats that had been run over was told during the evening.

I have shingles!!!!!!!! Wait...... I mean the good part is that I managed to break in time to avoid killing those two kittens out of the group of 2 adults and 3 kittens living on the side of the road......... wait now I remember my college golf class is going to be meeting at the place 3 minutes from where I live as opposed to any of the others that would be 45 minutes away. And I got free food today.

A cookie for being kind enough to brake for small animals :D

Horrible as I am this remembers me of a story a friend told me about.

Someone he knew was out driving, also managing to drive over a cat. As he stepped out of the car to find it he saw it in the grass, also noticing it was not dead. After the painful procedure of strangling the cat (yes, he did just that) he goes to the house that the cat ran out from, realising it was where it used to live. The family is sad, of course, but realises it was an accident and forgives him. As he drives off to work (he was heading there from the beginning) nothing happens. But during lunch a guy at his work shows up and says "Hey ****, did you know there is a dead cat stuck in the front of your car?". As the realisation strikes him he drives back and how to explain to the family how he had managed to road-kill the first cat and strangled their other.

Sad as it is, when he told me this story all of us had to fight to hold back the tears from laughing. Also, two or three other "fun" stories of cats that had been run over was told during the evening.

No way... that's too crazy to believe. He strangled a perfectly healthy cat? Fluffy rolls Will to disbelieve. He could take any commoner!

I have shingles!!!!!!!! Wait...... I mean the good part is that I managed to break in time to avoid killing those two kittens out of the group of 2 adults and 3 kittens living on the side of the road......... wait now I remember my college golf class is going to be meeting at the place 3 minutes from where I live as opposed to any of the others that would be 45 minutes away. And I got free food today.

A cookie for being kind enough to brake for small animals :D

Horrible as I am this remembers me of a story a friend told me about.

Someone he knew was out driving, also managing to drive over a cat. As he stepped out of the car to find it he saw it in the grass, also noticing it was not dead. After the painful procedure of strangling the cat (yes, he did just that) he goes to the house that the cat ran out from, realising it was where it used to live. The family is sad, of course, but realises it was an accident and forgives him. As he drives off to work (he was heading there from the beginning) nothing happens. But during lunch a guy at his work shows up and says "Hey ****, did you know there is a dead cat stuck in the front of your car?". As the realisation strikes him he drives back and how to explain to the family how he had managed to road-kill the first cat and strangled their other.

Sad as it is, when he told me this story all of us had to fight to hold back the tears from laughing. Also, two or three other "fun" stories of cats that had been run over was told during the evening.

No way... that's too crazy to believe. He strangled a perfectly healthy cat? Fluffy rolls Will to disbelieve. He could take any commoner!

One of the other stories involved a guy actually finding the right kitty, but he did not manage to strangle it since it was strong enough to fight back. So using the only tool he could find in his car he ended its misery, the thing is, it was a sledgehammer. As a result of the ... act ... he was covered in cat blood and was going to walk up to the house that this cat ran out from. But as he stands there, covered in the evidence of his act, cat in one hand, sledgehammer in his other, who comes driving along the road if not *dramatic pause* his mother in law.

I remember that one of my high school teachers, back when HE was in high school, was apparently going to pick up his girlfriend for something. On the way, he ran over a cat, and noticed the tag said "Fluffy". Anyway, he continued to his girlfriend's house, and was invited to stay for dinner, so to make small talk he explained why he was late (running over this random cat). He'd just finished relating how he'd remarked, upon reading the cat's name tag, "Well you aren't so Fluffy now!" before noticing that the family was between horrified and crying. At which point he realized it was their cat.

My teachers from Taiko want to train me to be on the performance team. I'm elated, but at the same time, this news is pretty bittersweet. They basically want to set up a meeting with me and talk to me about what all this entails... my heart's racing right now. I almost cried when I got the voice message on my phone. I've never been considered good at ANYTHING before, and this is seriously a dream come true. Ever since I first saw Fushu Daiko play, I've wanted to get up on stage and play too! And now I have the opportunity to do it, and it scares me.

My issue is that I have to put school first, and my hobbies second... I just hope I can both get my schoolwork done (to the level of completion I need to excel) AND train 4+ days a week for performance team. I'm really crossing my fingers on this one. Something tells me it might not work out...

But still, I'm honored to have been selected for this. I never thought my hard work would get me anywhere.

My teachers from Taiko want to train me to be on the performance team. I'm elated, but at the same time, this news is pretty bittersweet. They basically want to set up a meeting with me and talk to me about what all this entails... my heart's racing right now. I almost cried when I got the voice message on my phone. I've never been considered good at ANYTHING before, and this is seriously a dream come true. Ever since I first saw Fushu Daiko play, I've wanted to get up on stage and play too! And now I have the opportunity to do it, and it scares me.

My issue is that I have to put school first, and my hobbies second... I just hope I can both get my schoolwork done (to the level of completion I need to excel) AND train 4+ days a week for performance team. I'm really crossing my fingers on this one. Something tells me it might not work out...

But still, I'm honored to have been selected for this. I never thought my hard work would get me anywhere.

The 'inventory discrepancy' at work has increased to 1.6 million with the latest count. And I am one of the very few who isn't a suspect at all due to my reputation for blunt honesty (i.e. i'm a sarcastic bastard). :lol

Looks like there's some firings down the line. With luck they'll clear out the serious addicts and the rest of the pedophiles.

Looks like there's some firings down the line. With luck they'll clear out the serious addicts and the rest of the pedophiles.

The... uh... what?

With some few exceptions virtually all of my coworkers are thieves, serious drug addicts, alcoholics, pedophiles, date rapists, or ex cons. I've been trying to find another job but no one has been hiring here for years. And my bosses don't seem to care. Well at least they didn't. Now that their butts on the line for the missing inventory im assuming that'll change.

Looks like there's some firings down the line. With luck they'll clear out the serious addicts and the rest of the pedophiles.

The... uh... what?

With some few exceptions virtually all of my coworkers are thieves, serious drug addicts, alcoholics, pedophiles, date rapists, or ex cons. I've been trying to find another job but no one has been hiring here for years. And my bosses don't seem to care. Well at least they didn't. Now that their butts on the line for the missing inventory im assuming that'll change.

That's why they need a wise and benevolent leader. Just imagine what you could convince them to do with a little coaxing. :smirk

I might not be able to keep them alive long enough. They're talking about experimenting with formaldehyde or pcp in their weed. One does coke and adderal to work two jobs, and lithium to come back down so he can sleep. We've been trying to tell him it's a bad idea but he won't listen.

it's generally a bad thing when other drug addicts look at you and go "Duuude you are waay out of line. You need to put that shit down."

I had to get a root canal done today. I was expecting to not be able to eat at all for a while, not to mention the direct pain during the operation. Now it's important to remember for this story that I live in Japan, because my dentist pulled out a frickin' LASER DRILL! Didn't hurt much at all, only took like 20 minutes for the whole thing, and I could eat right away afterward with no problems!

Eluveitie is touring in November!!! Along with Alestorm, Belphegor, Vreid, and Kivimetsan Druidi

Envious. I get to see Ensiferum though.

The tour they start in the beginning of November? It's a decent live gig, you'll probably enjoy it.

Indeed. When I saw them at Paganfest '08, they were pretty good. Although when they were setting up, some dude in the audience beside me said "Wait, are those LARP swords? That's lame". I turned to him and said "You lose points for knowing what LARP means". Him and his three buddies almost knocked me right out of the pit during their first song. It seems if encounter enough force to knock me out of a pit, I'm pretty much going to have trouble stopping, and ended up bulling about 5-6 meters through the crowd before I was stopped. Then I knocked the crap out of them. Good times, I'd do it again.

By the way, you've ever tried Cooper's test? 12 minutes on a 400 metre track to see how far you can get. That's the basic concept.

Scheduled to take it next week to see how much I may have improved since the last. I need to run 8 laps or more to be considered good rather than regular.

I figure I can pull it off, though it will more likely than not exhaust me.

You got to run 3200 metres in order not to be regular? Harsh standards. Good luck!

Not particularly harsh. Test results are based off factors such as age and current weight, so assuming I pull it off it means my cardiorespiratory resistance is above the average for someone with my body type.

I have trouble with said activity. Mostly because my body doesn't want to move, my top speed is very low. I can keep up as fast as I can run (as in, running all-out) for about half a mile, but that takes me about ten minutes, I have never been able to run a mile in less than 20. I just can't make my legs move fast enough.

I have trouble with said activity. Mostly because my body doesn't want to move, my top speed is very low. I can keep up as fast as I can run (as in, running all-out) for about half a mile, but that takes me about ten minutes, I have never been able to run a mile in less than 20. I just can't make my legs move fast enough.

You did mention that your body density is greater than normal, so it's no surprise. Your body isn't built for speed, it's built for strength. So given enough training you'll be able to lift weights I can only dream of.

College is for the most part what I expected, which makes me happy. Everyone's awkward at first, but things are settling down. I'm glad I didn't come here expecting it to be like it is in the movies. Apparently some people here did, but they've already been written up and temporarily suspended from housing.

Sadly, college isn't an escape from those generic douchebags that were around in high school (you know the kind). Now they just have easier access to beer. :nonono

I just finished cleaning off my desk (which I haven't done in the last... one year? two?). This led to two surprising revelations:1. My desk is larger than I remembered.2. I actually do have a lot of the useful stuff I often find myself complaining about not having (white-out, adhesive tape etc.).I also rediscovered a bunch of DVDs and got around to copying my Bruce Springsteen CDs over to my audio library. :D

College is for the most part what I expected, which makes me happy. Everyone's awkward at first, but things are settling down. I'm glad I didn't come here expecting it to be like it is in the movies. Apparently some people here did, but they've already been written up and temporarily suspended from housing.

Sadly, college isn't an escape from those generic douchebags that were around in high school (you know the kind). Now they just have easier access to beer. :nonono

Not trying to rub it in your face (promise), but I must say that since I started at my University I have yet to find a single douche (been here for a year now), and the beer is cheap and easy accessible for people who drink (I am not one of the though, can't stand the taste of alcohol) and that tends to keep them even happier.

And my contribution to the list of joy is: Tonight is BBQ-night with my friends!

College is for the most part what I expected, which makes me happy. Everyone's awkward at first, but things are settling down. I'm glad I didn't come here expecting it to be like it is in the movies. Apparently some people here did, but they've already been written up and temporarily suspended from housing.

Sadly, college isn't an escape from those generic douchebags that were around in high school (you know the kind). Now they just have easier access to beer. :nonono

Not trying to rub it in your face (promise), but I must say that since I started at my University I have yet to find a single douche (been here for a year now), and the beer is cheap and easy accessible for people who drink (I am not one of the though, can't stand the taste of alcohol) and that tends to keep them even happier.

And my contribution to the list of joy is: Tonight is BBQ-night with my friends!

I had to get a root canal done today. I was expecting to not be able to eat at all for a while, not to mention the direct pain during the operation. Now it's important to remember for this story that I live in Japan, because my dentist pulled out a frickin' LASER DRILL! Didn't hurt much at all, only took like 20 minutes for the whole thing, and I could eat right away afterward with no problems!

College is for the most part what I expected, which makes me happy. Everyone's awkward at first, but things are settling down. I'm glad I didn't come here expecting it to be like it is in the movies. Apparently some people here did, but they've already been written up and temporarily suspended from housing.

Sadly, college isn't an escape from those generic douchebags that were around in high school (you know the kind). Now they just have easier access to beer. :nonono

Not trying to rub it in your face (promise), but I must say that since I started at my University I have yet to find a single douche (been here for a year now), and the beer is cheap and easy accessible for people who drink (I am not one of the though, can't stand the taste of alcohol) and that tends to keep them even happier.

And my contribution to the list of joy is: Tonight is BBQ-night with my friends!

Beer doesn't taste like alcohol.

Yes it does, I can taste alcohol in everything above 2,5% and I do not like the bitter taste of beer anyway. To be honest, beer (all brands) only taste like bitter water with alcohol in it too me, in short, disgusting. The only thing beer can be used for is as a spice in a stew somewhat common in Sweden (do not know about the rest of the world) when you boil some thin-sliced beef, potato, onion,bay laurel leaves and some black pepper in a darker beer (like Hobgoblin). Otherwise I guess I could use it to clean engines with it if I was out of everything else

I use beer in cooking fairly frequently (I mostly use wine though, beer leads to a much heavier flavor, and I prefer making lighter things), but I too can't stand it. Well, I'm sure there might somewhere exist one that tastes good to me, but I'll never find it, as on principle I don't drink (and yes, I'm of age so it's not just the legality, and no, it's not a religion thing). Wine is also pretty disgusting to me, and as I said, I use it in cooking a lot, especially since I make white sauces frequently.

I'm not familiar wish that dish specifically, but that's the sort of thing I'd use beer for.

I use beer in cooking fairly frequently (I mostly use wine though, beer leads to a much heavier flavor, and I prefer making lighter things), but I too can't stand it. Well, I'm sure there might somewhere exist one that tastes good to me, but I'll never find it, as on principle I don't drink (and yes, I'm of age so it's not just the legality, and no, it's not a religion thing). Wine is also pretty disgusting to me, and as I said, I use it in cooking a lot, especially since I make white sauces frequently.

I'm not familiar wish that dish specifically, but that's the sort of thing I'd use beer for.

I don't drink for three reasons: one, I'm picky about how things taste, two, I hate the feeling of alcohol burning down my throat, and three, I'm naturally crazy so I don't need it.

I use beer in cooking fairly frequently (I mostly use wine though, beer leads to a much heavier flavor, and I prefer making lighter things), but I too can't stand it. Well, I'm sure there might somewhere exist one that tastes good to me, but I'll never find it, as on principle I don't drink (and yes, I'm of age so it's not just the legality, and no, it's not a religion thing). Wine is also pretty disgusting to me, and as I said, I use it in cooking a lot, especially since I make white sauces frequently.

I'm not familiar wish that dish specifically, but that's the sort of thing I'd use beer for.

I don't drink for three reasons: one, I'm picky about how things taste, two, I hate the feeling of alcohol burning down my throat, and three, I'm naturally crazy so I don't need it.

I get these awesome rashes from booze of any degree, so the only time I'd have any is if it came in food awesome enough to ignore a day's itching. Fair price to pay.

I went from "Oh my god, please, please, make it stop"-headache a few hours ago to "successfully updating my browser without any loss of data, discarding 5-year-old artifacts of earlier versions by doing a manual migration of settings". So much faster. So much stabler. Life just became a little better. I probably should do a backup at once, in case I mess up somewhere along the way, but... that'd be stretching my enthusiasm.

I use beer in cooking fairly frequently (I mostly use wine though, beer leads to a much heavier flavor, and I prefer making lighter things), but I too can't stand it. Well, I'm sure there might somewhere exist one that tastes good to me, but I'll never find it, as on principle I don't drink (and yes, I'm of age so it's not just the legality, and no, it's not a religion thing). Wine is also pretty disgusting to me, and as I said, I use it in cooking a lot, especially since I make white sauces frequently.

I'm not familiar wish that dish specifically, but that's the sort of thing I'd use beer for.

I don't drink for three reasons: one, I'm picky about how things taste, two, I hate the feeling of alcohol burning down my throat, and three, I'm naturally crazy so I don't need it.

I get these awesome rashes from booze of any degree, so the only time I'd have any is if it came in food awesome enough to ignore a day's itching. Fair price to pay.

When I drink, I break out in spots. Spots like jails, hospitals, etc...

I use beer in cooking fairly frequently (I mostly use wine though, beer leads to a much heavier flavor, and I prefer making lighter things), but I too can't stand it. Well, I'm sure there might somewhere exist one that tastes good to me, but I'll never find it, as on principle I don't drink (and yes, I'm of age so it's not just the legality, and no, it's not a religion thing). Wine is also pretty disgusting to me, and as I said, I use it in cooking a lot, especially since I make white sauces frequently.

I'm not familiar wish that dish specifically, but that's the sort of thing I'd use beer for.

I don't drink for three reasons: one, I'm picky about how things taste, two, I hate the feeling of alcohol burning down my throat, and three, I'm naturally crazy so I don't need it.

I get these awesome rashes from booze of any degree, so the only time I'd have any is if it came in food awesome enough to ignore a day's itching. Fair price to pay.

When I drink, I break out inof spots. Spots like jails, hospitals, etc...

Finally managed to put together a RP-group after a years break from all IRL/AFK-gaming! On both the up and down side I now have to learn how to DM properly as everyone else except for one guy (6 of us) are new to most kinds of roleplaying that happens without a computer-screen in front of you.

Finally managed to put together a RP-group after a years break from all IRL/AFK-gaming! On both the up and down side I now have to learn how to DM properly as everyone else except for one guy (6 of us) are new to most kinds of roleplaying that happens without a computer-screen in front of you.

I got to help my friend out by clipping his birds wings for him. Ok, that wasn't the fun part. But it's fun helping people out and teaching them how to take better care of their birdies. And I think that if I give him some books on bird behavior and proper care, etc, those two birdies will have very happy lives. They're such sweeties too. They're both female cockatiels. One's pretty nice and loves her owner, the other has had very little contact with people and is absolutely terrified when you come near her.

With a little bit of time and effort, they'll turn into sweet or at least polite ladies.

But they're both just sooo cute! I couldn't help but baby talk to them. I like birds. :embarrassed

Honestly, I'm just happy because I've finally met another person who's willing to work with their birds and improve their lives. So often people just throw them in a cage with little or no stimulation or nutrition and let them gradually and painfully go insane. So I'm happy that he's a really nice daddy to his baby birds. :D

I just came up with a brilliant idea: We should pay people to complain for us!

I mean, the only reason nothing's going as we want it is because we don't want to put that much effort into complaining, campaigning, etc.

So I thought, we need something like a lawyer. Or, rather, lobbyists, like big business has. Someone to represent us to the governments. And at that last thought, I actually got hold of what I was thinking, and wept.

In the past few days, two girls have thrown themselves at me (one of whom is a model, both of whom are really fun people), a man I really respect decided I should be in charge of a group that helps those in need of short term mental care, the people I work for were raving about how much better I was at my job than the last guy who did it, and a group of people I have great respect for wants me to start teaching them how to do some very important fire safety related stuff.

I went to my first gaming con last night! It was great! Got to try out Call of Cthulhu, which had a really nice unobtrusive game system (my first non-d20 experience), and I finally played some 4e. 10 hours of gaming goodness. :)

My sister and I went to Yogurt Land for dessert last night. 'Twas good... Yes, I took pictures of the food, therefore it (the food, and presumably Yogurt Land) happened. :PMy dessert:[spoiler] (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/MasterVega/Photo0142.jpg)[/spoiler]

Her dessert:[spoiler] (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/MasterVega/Photo0143.jpg)[/spoiler]

My sister and I went to Yogurt Land for dessert last night. 'Twas good... Yes, I took pictures of the food, therefore it (the food, and presumably Yogurt Land) happened. :PMy dessert:[spoiler] (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/MasterVega/Photo0142.jpg)[/spoiler]

Her dessert:[spoiler] (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/MasterVega/Photo0143.jpg)[/spoiler]

Dammit J0lt. Can't you give me a slice of your life? I won't ask for your wife, but at least I wanted to be exposed to half the cool stuff you are!

lol, did I mention I pulled or tore a muscle in my shoulder shortly before my test, and that the second part of the test was shoulder-rolls? That felt so good I was seeing spots for about a minute afterwards! :blink

Seriously though, you definitely need to visit Japan if you can afford it! You might see stuff like:[spoiler]Kobe's Port Tower in Harborland,(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/j0lt/Japan/PortHarbour.jpg)

I taught some idiots in DDO that just because the MMO is different from the tabletop game doesn't mean the fundamentals don't apply.

Can you imagine they said Rogues are purely a DPS class and Cleric is a glorified healer? The fucking AUDACITY!

Heh... you have to understand not everyone have been initiated in the CO/Minmax boards, so such assumptions are almost expected.... almost :smirk

Hell, thus far I've only run into a single guy who knows what the fuck I'm talking about. He's a Batman Warforged Wizard and someone REALLY cool to hang out with.

But mostly there are lots of WoW rejects that can't grasp the idea of not running blindly ahead into everything they see. Hell, the concept of TRAPs seems to boggle their mind. Plus people who seem to think TWF = DPS.

while saying relaxed is more than just stretching it, but happy and excited fit the bill.

I recently found out my fiancee and I are going to be parents. :o On top of that a friend of our told me about a job opening at the hospital where they work. With their recommendation and my computer skills I will likely go from this dead end job being a one man show without getting any of the money for it to a comfortable and stable job with awesome benefits. So i've got a potential 2-fer going on hope to come back in a few days to be able to say i have the new job with much better pay.

while saying relaxed is more than just stretching it, but happy and excited fit the bill.

I recently found out my fiancee and I are going to be parents. :o On top of that a friend of our told me about a job opening at the hospital where they work. With their recommendation and my computer skills I will likely go from this dead end job being a one man show without getting any of the money for it to a comfortable and stable job with awesome benefits. So i've got a potential 2-fer going on hope to come back in a few days to be able to say i have the new job with much better pay.

Yay! My back pain is slowly going away. I had a super bad muscle spasm that started in my shoulder and spread (really quickly) to the rest of my back and neck. I had like, one giant knot. I couldn't turn my neck or anything. This is day 2 of pain, but the muscles are slowly relaxing a little and I can move more without wincing every second. Yay!

Also, I'm getting my doggy a Halloween collar (it has candy corn on it and other things that will make him look festive). The best part: I originally wasn't going to get it since it would've cost me 30 bucks (including shipping), but the website emailed me after I clicked out and 1) saved the item I was getting in my cart and 2) gave me a discount so that I'd make my purchase. Thank you fetchdog.com!

I'm looking forward to National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org/). After my third failure last year, I decided that I was going to spend 2009 honing my "writer's endurance" so that I could actually succeed this year. In trial-runs, I've managed to get decent word counts with minimal effort. If I don't focus on a narrative, I can easily make 50,000 words in two weeks. If I focus on creating a single, continuous narrative, I estimate *at worst* it'll take me twice as long to achieve that word count, which is the actual length of the challenge.

So, I'm getting pumped. It's like preparing for a marathon or something. I'm feeling good about it. I can't wait! :sparta

I'm looking forward to National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org/). After my third failure last year, I decided that I was going to spend 2009 honing my "writer's endurance" so that I could actually succeed this year. In trial-runs, I've managed to get decent word counts with minimal effort. If I don't focus on a narrative, I can easily make 50,000 words in two weeks. If I focus on creating a single, continuous narrative, I estimate *at worst* it'll take me twice as long to achieve that word count, which is the actual length of the challenge.

So, I'm getting pumped. It's like preparing for a marathon or something. I'm feeling good about it. I can't wait! :sparta

A friend of mine has given that one a try two or three times. Just saying. Good luck!

...she had an ear infection which we were treating her for, then got bit by another dog a few days later. The fur around where the bite wounds were will take a little longer to grow back in, but she's fine and that's what counts.

Hotel? I am hoping to spend my time at Llochlyn's place. And I don't even mind shitholes, I wouldn't stay at the room too long anyway. If I get this done it means I've done England, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, France and Finland this year. Wish I would visit new countries at that rate.

Oh dear. How expensive is the hotel? I made some bad experiences in Paris two weeks ago. Basically, if it's not expensive it's probably a shithole.

I had one of those a few years back. Until the wallet came out the people were rude, everything was over-priced so far I could gaze down and wave at the Eiffel tower, the food was never better than "ok", all beds were hard as rocks, my stomach was in an uproar for a few days after the trip and to sum it all up I missed a Sonata Arctica concert back for that trip. I do not like Paris (though the catacombs were awesome and Notre Dame a fabulous piece of architecture).

Spent the weekend getting a paid stay at a nice hotel on the universities expense which meant a lot of great food and some education on how to be a better board-member in the student union. I think I managed to gain what we in the northern part of Sweden would call chronic "Palt-koma".Translation: "Palt" is a type of food known to be able to feed a company of hungry soldiers in no-time (I guess you could call it IRL Soldier pills) and "koma" means "coma". In short, you eat until you can't move.

In short: I had a great time, meeting knew people, ate delicious food until I could burst (four meals in a row) and got to sit in a sauna for a few hours. Best time I've had for several weeks.

I also managed to wrestle with several Great Tit's today (the bird), you would think that impossible considering I weigh more than 6000 times as much as they do, but damn can they fight. But the silver medal has to go to the Blue Tit (still a bird) I fought with for ten minutes until I managed to get it out of the net (you'd think such a small bird wouldn't be able to bite that hard). Bird ringing is more fun than most people can imagine.

I spent most of the evening in a barrel of hot water anyway, annoying my fellow comrades with worthless zombie-jokes

Yay zombehs!

Imagine a vegetarian zombie (night of the living bread) "Grains graiiiiiins"Imagine a construction-worker zombie "Cranes craneeees"And to infinity...

You know, there actually is a parody of NotLD called Night of the Living Bread (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133313/). I got it with my old collector's edition NotLD VHS as an extra on the second tape (along with the old TV trailers for the real movie, etc...). Well worth the watch!

I spent most of the evening in a barrel of hot water anyway, annoying my fellow comrades with worthless zombie-jokes

Yay zombehs!

Imagine a vegetarian zombie (night of the living bread) "Grains graiiiiiins"Imagine a construction-worker zombie "Cranes craneeees"And to infinity...

You know, there actually is a parody of NotLD called Night of the Living Bread (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133313/). I got it with my old collector's edition NotLD VHS as an extra on the second tape (along with the old TV trailers for the real movie, etc...). Well worth the watch!

I'm drunker than shit, and got one of the most amusing flames I've gotten in a while. I feel very good right now. ALSO, I might finally have a girlfriend. She's been through the fucking wringer, like me, and we have a lot of common ground. The two of us have similar experiences, and understand equally the darkness that dwells in the hearts of humans. Also, she is beautiful, and feels so right in my arms. I'm pretty cool right now. (And no, this isn't a woman I met at the club where I got drunk, we've been dating for a while now.)

Here's how it works. Anyone remember me mentioning a 12-minute running test a few months back? Well... I failed. I got as far as 5 and a half laps or so (take a slice) before time ran out. So now we're training specifically for the 12-minute run test. Basically, I get my running done, and save the last 12 minutes to take at least 5 laps (aiming for 6).

Last Thursday, I did 5 laps in 12'30" or so. Today, I did 5 laps in 11'35".

I can has more gramophone records! Bought myself everything recorded in a studio by Dire Straits (with the exception of "On every street"), some CCR, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Toto, Eagles, a live recording by The Dubliners, David Bowie and lots more the other da, the sweet sound of vinyl fills my apartment right now! 14 new albums and three singles will join my collection.

Sounds rather similar to some cross country practices I've attended. Usually, our coach would have us work on maximizing our oxygen intake on Mondays, which meant running two miles (a little over eight 400-meter laps, I believe) nonstop as fast as we could go within reason, a fifteen minute recovery period, and then one more mile at a similar pace.

Heh, I've still got a ways to go. My goal for now is 6 laps within 12 minutes - which roughly means an average of 2 minutes per lap. I can run about two or three laps that fast, but from the fourth onward my speed drops quite a bit.

At the time I consider myself to be at by best cardiovascular health (at age 17), I could run a mile in about fifteen minutes. (Or, that's about 6.5 km per hour). That was when I was on a good diet, was exercising for about 5-6 hours a day, and was extremely defined. (Was about 210 pounds back then, six-pack and everything).

These days, even though my physical strength is a lot higher than it was 11 years ago, my cardio health has dropped, I can run a mile in about 20 minutes now (or roughly 4.8 km per hour). Then again, I'm carrying about 50 pounds more on my frame. Not all of it's fat, but even the self-supporting stuff burns energy real fast, when I'm working out I literally can't eat enough to not feel hungry without rupturing myself.

At the time I consider myself to be at by best cardiovascular health (at age 17), I could run a mile in about fifteen minutes. (Or, that's about 6.5 km per hour). That was when I was on a good diet, was exercising for about 5-6 hours a day, and was extremely defined. (Was about 210 pounds back then, six-pack and everything).

These days, even though my physical strength is a lot higher than it was 11 years ago, my cardio health has dropped, I can run a mile in about 20 minutes now (or roughly 4.8 km per hour). Then again, I'm carrying about 50 pounds more on my frame. Not all of it's fat, but even the self-supporting stuff burns energy real fast, when I'm working out I literally can't eat enough to not feel hungry without rupturing myself.

Not all of speed is about how fast your heart can beat. I have very strong legs (used to bike way too much as a kid, and I lived in the suburbia where there were A LOT of large ramps), to the point where my personal trainer (hate to use the term... I prefer just 'trainer', 'coach' or even 'teacher') figured it was a waste of time to build them up further. My legs have a very good burst speed capability; for me, it's more about how much energy I have to spend and how much of it I keep up or save along the way. Breathing rhythm plays a big part too. Of course, I had to build up to it - when I started, more than a year ago, I could barely run a kilometer or so before my whole damn body gave out. Rhythm-wise, if I keep it at a light pace I can probably run about 16 or more 400 meter laps within an hour or so - it's my 12-minute period that needs the most work.

Your biggest strength is in your upper body, Count. In boxing terms, you probably have wicked punches but only average footwork; I would have better footwork but lower punching power (my grip is relatively weak and I have trouble keeping my wrists straight when bench-pressing).

I thought I was going to be stuck in the computer lab rendering my animation all day, but the lady watching the lab right now took the Maya class last semester and thus understands my pain... so she opened up six of the most powerful computers in the lab for me to render with. :D

It helps that there's only maybe six people in this room, and thirty computers total.

Actually, in my case my strength is all in my core (Chest, Abs, Back, Hips, Glutes). My arms and legs have good strength to them, but my arm strength gives out at my forearms. My wrists are the limiting factor in my arm exercises, and I literally have no strength in my finfgers past the first knuckle from the hand. (The second knuckle literally has no strength whatsoever, I'm thinking there's something wrong with the tendons).

Today I successfully put one of my coworkers in a headlock. At 5'8" he weighs 350 pounds and has no neck. He might be a fat fucker but hes damn strong. First time I've ever managed to get him in the headlock. :D

because my coworkers are pedophiles, thieves, liars, drug addicts, and assholes. And they take a perverse pleasure in trying to get under other peoples skin and harass them. I occasionally feel the need to remind them there are consequences for doing so. ;)

because my coworkers are pedophiles, thieves, liars, drug addicts, and assholes. And they take a perverse pleasure in trying to get under other peoples skin and harass them. I occasionally feel the need to remind them there are consequences for doing so. ;)

I am still to be convinced about the pedophile part at least. Anyway, the US is not the country where I'd use physical contact of any kind against anyone. Heck, if you can get rich by not being able to hold a coffee mug...

because my coworkers are pedophiles, thieves, liars, drug addicts, and assholes. And they take a perverse pleasure in trying to get under other peoples skin and harass them. I occasionally feel the need to remind them there are consequences for doing so. ;)

I am still to be convinced about the pedophile part at least. Anyway, the US is not the country where I'd use physical contact of any kind against anyone. Heck, if you can get rich by not being able to hold a coffee mug...

I dont have pics so not much in the way of proof I can offer bout them being pedos.

And true, it is a risk sometimes, but none of them wants the cops/courts/public to focus their attention on them. Most of my coworkers are on probation, have a court date coming, have pending warrants out for their arrests, are skipping child support, committing welfare fraud, selling drugs, or half a dozen other things that would be trouble for them if they tried suing anyone or anyone actually paid attention to them.

because my coworkers are pedophiles, thieves, liars, drug addicts, and assholes. And they take a perverse pleasure in trying to get under other peoples skin and harass them. I occasionally feel the need to remind them there are consequences for doing so. ;)

I am still to be convinced about the pedophile part at least. Anyway, the US is not the country where I'd use physical contact of any kind against anyone. Heck, if you can get rich by not being able to hold a coffee mug...

I dont have pics so not much in the way of proof I can offer bout them being pedos.

And true, it is a risk sometimes, but none of them wants the cops/courts/public to focus their attention on them. Most of my coworkers are on probation, have a court date coming, have pending warrants out for their arrests, are skipping child support, committing welfare fraud, selling drugs, or half a dozen other things that would be trouble for them if they tried suing anyone or anyone actually paid attention to them.

I feel that if I had your work I would start running in a circle, flap my arms endlessly and do an "Into the wild" without the preparation. Starve to death in the middle of Alaska seems like a nice alternative when working with that kind of people is the alternative.

Last weekend, BimR ran a marathon and then came over to my house where I threw her a surprise party. She was exhausted but had fun. Overall it was a good day. This weekend, she returned the favor and threw a surprise party for me. Totally got me, and it was great. :)

Heh, 5k is quite different from a marathon, I suppose. Let me know if you ever intend to run a marathon though, we could have our training schedules mixed. After half a marathon in full combat gear that should be doable.

If you sit still long enough, something else will grow on you, like mold, I named mine Bob, he is probably sentient by now.

Does he pay your rent and give classes over the internet?

Unfortunately not (I'll manage though, for the first three years of University my parents said they would pay my rent), I guess I could force him to give classes though, since he eats my food he might as well pay for it . Since I already started something in the "Ask a simple question ... IRL-edition" I might as well leave it to Bob to teach you all phrases in Swedish that you most certainly will never use. Submit through a PM, Bob will send you a page with phrases every now and then, exams will happen when I have time to be close enough to a computer so he can write, the cost will be a video and/or audio file with you trying to pronounce it.

God dammit. (http://s1.zetaboards.com/blazblue/topic/2485686/1/) One more reason to get a PSP (http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-6894-SF-Console-Game-Examiner~y2009m11d3-BlazBlue-announced-for-PSP)... (at least until I nab a PS3 for me :smirk)

God dammit. (http://s1.zetaboards.com/blazblue/topic/2485686/1/) One more reason to get a PSP (http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-6894-SF-Console-Game-Examiner~y2009m11d3-BlazBlue-announced-for-PSP)... (at least until I nab a PS3 for me :smirk)

If you sit still long enough, something else will grow on you, like mold, I named mine Bob, he is probably sentient by now.

Does he pay your rent and give classes over the internet?

Unfortunately not (I'll manage though, for the first three years of University my parents said they would pay my rent), I guess I could force him to give classes though, since he eats my food he might as well pay for it . Since I already started something in the "Ask a simple question ... IRL-edition" I might as well leave it to Bob to teach you all phrases in Swedish that you most certainly will never use. Submit through a PM, Bob will send you a page with phrases every now and then, exams will happen when I have time to be close enough to a computer so he can write, the cost will be a video and/or audio file with you trying to pronounce it.

Which would, if you were wondering, transalate into someting like this:"The sauce made from the donkeys honourable meat must be hidden from lovemaking elks, eels rarely crawl over the arable land and men rarely achive exaggerated amounts of apple pies when the grappling hook is captured by the pikeperch."

Which, I immagine, won't be something you'll find usefull in your everyday life. Unless you're RP'ing a Malkavian, just want to say something completly strange to shut the telemarketers up, or device a secret code based upon sheer ridicioulusness.But on the of chance that you do have some use for it, let me know.I'd like to hear about it :D

...I wonder if my lack of sleep is affecting my sense of humor at the moment?Naaaaw, probably not.

And on topic, a reason as good as any for me being happy:I've finally managed to decide what team to play in Blood Bowl and which models to include in my starting line.And I found a starting box including every model I'll be needing in the Atheloren Avengers.Fricckin greatness :DWheee, geekery :tantrum

God dammit. (http://s1.zetaboards.com/blazblue/topic/2485686/1/) One more reason to get a PSP (http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-6894-SF-Console-Game-Examiner~y2009m11d3-BlazBlue-announced-for-PSP)... (at least until I nab a PS3 for me :smirk)

God dammit. (http://s1.zetaboards.com/blazblue/topic/2485686/1/) One more reason to get a PSP (http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-6894-SF-Console-Game-Examiner~y2009m11d3-BlazBlue-announced-for-PSP)... (at least until I nab a PS3 for me :smirk)

I'm happy with my console copy. :D

Rich people get it easy :rollseyes :lmao

Oh yeah, I'm freaking rich. :lmao

In other news, DEMON'S SOULS IS HERE!! I've never had so much love for a game this obnoxiously HARD!

In other news, DEMON'S SOULS IS HERE!! I've never had so much love for a game this obnoxiously HARD!

I haven't heard much about it, but it looks really interesting. How is it? Worth the investment?

On topic: Trying out a new work schedule and it seems to be working. I'm not irritated because of traffic when I arrive at work in the morning now. :)

It's exactly as I'd advertise it - harder than diamond and about as brilliant.

While dungeon crawl games are relatively nothing new (and this game in particular reminds me, a LOT, of a medieval PSO), this game works well. The atmosphere and the system just mesh really well together; the game has a gritty feel despite the fact you're hacking through demons.

Now if only they didn't gang up as much as they do... Most basic strategy in Demon's Souls, for me, is: turtle behind your shield, lure one enemy at a time, attack when no one else does.

Not spear and rapier, shield and spear/rapier. Sorry that wasn't very clear.

Basically, it means you upgrade Stamina like crazy, and then attack from behind your heavy shield. It's cheesy as all hell and doesn't work well against multiple enemies, but it's both reliable and effective.

Of course, you CAN wield a weapon two-handed for greater damage. The stamina consumption is bigger, however, and given that weapons make for a poor defense mechanism, it's not recommend unless you can parry well (in this game, if you time it right and hit R2, you can parry your opponent's strike at virtually null risk to yourself; you can follow with a riposte immediately after that, which is practically an instant-kill - I have yet to see an enemy take a riposte and live, except with a broken weapon).

Since it was November 5th yesterday two of my friends and I made a Guy Fawkes doll, bought some snacks and and started celebrating. First we burned the doll and I read the "Remember, remember, the fifth of November"-rhyme, then we watched V for Vendetta and drank tea. Everything while speaking the most British English we could muster, should be noted that we added to the British touch by buying salt and vinegar crisps.

Going to the Long Night of Research in Vienna today. I don't know how effective it is, but I applaud anything that attempts to bring science closer to people. Anti-intellectualism is a big problem in the west (don't know about the east).

I finally got around to making my vampire EDH deck and it's not a complete pile of crap, so yay! :)

Also, my group is finally warming up to the non-D&D games we're playing.

Nice.Speaking of MtG, I'm on the wizards website today (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/316). When I saw my name on there, I was like, "Wait. What?". Dammit, now I wish I hadn't just netdecked and not gotten the appropiate lands in time. Now I'll be immortalized as the guy who, for some reason, didn't put a playset of Necropolises in his deck. :lol

Speaking of MtG, I'm on the wizards website today (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/316). When I saw my name on there, I was like, "Wait. What?". Dammit, now I wish I hadn't just netdecked and not gotten the appropiate lands in time. Now I'll be immortalized as the guy who, for some reason, didn't put a playset of Necropolises in his deck. :lol

Speaking of MtG, I'm on the wizards website today (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/316). When I saw my name on there, I was like, "Wait. What?". Dammit, now I wish I hadn't just netdecked and not gotten the appropiate lands in time. Now I'll be immortalized as the guy who, for some reason, didn't put a playset of Necropolises in his deck. :lol

Today was my first performance with Fushu Daiko as an apprentice! It was scary and fun!

I mean, I had two performances today. The first one... Well, didn't go so well and I'm trying to let it go because I did was I was told and someone else messed up... but made me look like I didn't know what I was doing. So it sorta made the group look bad, but especially me. I wanted to crawl into a corner and die.

But the second performance went WAY better. I addressed the problem, we worked something out, and everything went a whole lot smoother. :D I had a lot more fun that time around.

I still get vomit inducing stage fright, but I think I'm getting better. Slowly. :D

Today was my first performance with Fushu Daiko as an apprentice! It was scary and fun!

I mean, I had two performances today. The first one... Well, didn't go so well and I'm trying to let it go because I did was I was told and someone else messed up... but made me look like I didn't know what I was doing. So it sorta made the group look bad, but especially me. I wanted to crawl into a corner and die.

But the second performance went WAY better. I addressed the problem, we worked something out, and everything went a whole lot smoother. :D I had a lot more fun that time around.

I still get vomit inducing stage fright, but I think I'm getting better. Slowly. :D

So the imagining people were nekkid trick didn't help, huh? Fancy that!

Today was my first performance with Fushu Daiko as an apprentice! It was scary and fun!

I mean, I had two performances today. The first one... Well, didn't go so well and I'm trying to let it go because I did was I was told and someone else messed up... but made me look like I didn't know what I was doing. So it sorta made the group look bad, but especially me. I wanted to crawl into a corner and die.

But the second performance went WAY better. I addressed the problem, we worked something out, and everything went a whole lot smoother. :D I had a lot more fun that time around.

I still get vomit inducing stage fright, but I think I'm getting better. Slowly. :D

So the imagining people were nekkid trick didn't help, huh? Fancy that!

Brainiacs did a study on that topic (ok, they had underwear) and came to the conclusion that the guy (who applied for a job in this case) was even more nervous when the people who interviewed him showed more skin.

I'm directing a One-Act for our school this fall, and auditions were today. We got some really great performances, a few stinkers, but overall they went well. Now I have to decide who to cut, which oddly enough makes me really excited. Normally, our school musicals don't cut because we involve middle schoolers as well and want to keep them involved. Also, every One-Act audition we've had there have been just barely enough people so no one was really cut from the show. Now, I get to do it for the first time. Mwahahahaha! :smirk

Finally managed to stick all my new badges to my overall. Now it is time to get more of them.

If you are not from Scandinavia you might want to read this (http://www.niksula.cs.hut.fi/~mmm/haalari/kulttuuri/joensuu.html) to understand what I am talking about. It should be mentioned that most people wash theirs today, but their are strict rules governing that particular activity.

When I saw the web address I immediately decided not to read it, because almost every time a Finn tries to translate ANYTHING it turns out to be a disaster.

Actually this was a fairly good job. Though you are (sadly enough) incredibly correct. But as a Finn yourself you ought to have a hunch about how it works anyway, so you won't have to suffer, other people though :smirk

Having spent countless of hours sitting in bars, our precious pubs on riverside boats and terraces in downtown sipping beer and laughing at the overalls, I can indeed say I have a hunch. It became all the more hilarious when my friends started to have those.

It looks like i'll be getting a new job soon. Nothing set in stone yet but if it pans out i will be making double what i do now and have benefits. Granted it doesn't take that much to double my current pay but i'll be living large, comparative to how i squeak by now at least.

I got a 1.3 score on the test produced by the Swedish Institute of Higher Education (which btw sound a lot more impressive in english than it's original name) to be used for getting into the education you're after.Basically, if you fucked up your grades for some reason, you have a chance at using this instead or as a complemetary product to them. I didn't manage Physics B, which of course happens to be the single largest course I took.The maximum is 2.0, minimum 0.0, this years agverage is 0.91.Pretty good, actually. 66% correct on the first attempt.With no preparations.On an effective sleep of 2 hours.Battling the aftereffects of a cold. :D

I got a 1.3 score on the test produced by the Swedish Institute of Higher Education (which btw sound a lot more impressive in english than it's original name) to be used for getting into the education you're after.Basically, if you fucked up your grades for some reason, you have a chance at using this instead or as a complemetary product to them. I didn't manage Physics B, which of course happens to be the single largest course I took.The maximum is 2.0, minimum 0.0, this years agverage is 0.91.Pretty good, actually. 66% correct on the first attempt.With no preparations.On an effective sleep of 2 hours.Battling the aftereffects of a cold. :D

I salute thee. When I took it I ended up with 0.8 (first time as well). Passed Physics B but that was about it, never understood why they thought I would need it for a Biology-career, that is one heck of a course.

Our neighbors are throwing a party tonight and gave us a piece of apple pie as a sort of preemptive apology if it gets too loud. Luckily, I tend to go to bed late on weekends and my bed is far away from the wall between our apartments. Thus, free apple pie! :D

Alright, I re-ripped all my CDs to not be in odd formats, converted the formats on a CD which I no longer seemed to have, and put it all on my MP3 player. I know have all the music I own everywhere I go.

Sheesh, if you're old, what does that leave for the people in the forum who are 30 years old or more? (I'm 24, myself.)

Also, happy birthday.

We're doddering old cranks shaking our canes and telling you whippersnappers to get off our lawns, of course. And yes, we do this while talking about how in the old days we played D&D with only 6-sided dice and we liked it that way. :grave

I guess this is the time to mention my army of platypuses, they are trained in 52 martial-arts (51 invented by themselves), outdoor cooking and 8 types of dances! :evillaugh Your Gundams shall become scrap metal in an instant. We are the monotremes, you shall be assimilated, resistance is futile!

Edit: Got this[Spoiler] The candles were mine actually, was going to save them until my dads birthday but my friends stole them and I can get new ones(http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx189/Mullman89/bild.jpg)[/Spoiler]and a cane as well

Got my first essay back and I am laughing at the astonishing amount of patriotism the Finnish yellow press is pushing out today. Exactly 70 years ago the USSR attacked Finland, a magnificent anniversary, because I can always get my daily dose of laughing by simply visiting the websites of our most beloved garbage magazines!

Going to meet my friend at the bus station, getting back to my place and get dead wasted to celebrate the independence day and my birthday. True, we are a day early, but all the Finns here drink today and I am not intending to be left out!

Online flight tickets After some amazingly frustrating episodes I finally got my ticket confirmations today by calling to the KLM customer service for the sixth time. The girl there says: "Sure, I have the tickets ready, would you want me to send them to your email?" But of course I don't! I merely bought them, because I don't like having too much money!

This morning I was suffering from a horrendous hangover and I got asked how I would express my music taste with a single verse. I listen to music from Finnish anarchistic left-wing rap all the way to semi-right-wing metal and I was wondering what should I answer, so did not reply. Now I know what I should have quoted:"So you've been to school for a year or twoAnd you know you've seen it allIn daddy's car thinkin' you'll go farBack East your type don't crawlPlay ethnicky jazz to parade your snazzOn you five grand stereoBraggin' that you know how the niggers feel the coldAnd the slum's got so much soulIt's time to taste what you most fearRight Guard will not help you here"

AC came to visit me and brightened up my stressful weekend. We played Borderlands (Mordecai is ALMOST level 20), cuddled, and then watched Zack and Miri make a porno (funny stuff).

Also, before that I had to go on a field trip to an art museum with my class. On the bus ride back to school, I was looking through my teacher's stuff (she bought fun stuff at the gift store!) I found the card that had made me laugh (it was a statue of david with cake over his crotch and the inside says "have your cake and eat it too". I made a comment like, "oh! that's the card I wanted!" or something to that effect... and she gave it to me. I tried to not take it, but she didn't take no for an answer, so now I have this card. And it makes me happy everytime I look at it. :D

I got an A on a test I didn't study for (but I knew most of the information by heart anyway), I got an A on both of my 3D models that I had stressed over and worked on for the entire weekend, and I got an A on my 2D animation (the teacher said it was my best yet!). I'm just so happy that my hard work is paying off. Especially since I was starting to doubt myself and my abilities. I just need to hang in there 'til Friday so that I can hand in 3 After Effects projects to my teacher and then run home to drink and decorate the house for Christmas with my mom. :D

Only one more exam to go. I'm pretty confident about my chemistry exam. I know I nailed at least 6 points extra credit, and I'm comfortable with everything except the vapor pressure question. (Not good with that).

Considering majoring in Chemistry instead of Biology when I get to actual college. For one, chem majors make the most out of any science undergrad degree, for another Biology is more political. (As in, I don't want to get fired when I'm asked about creationism and I tell them that it's bullshit :p)

(As in, I don't want to get fired when I'm asked about creationism and I tell them that it's bullshit :p)

I'd like to work in America for a short time just so that exact thing can happen to me. Chem is fun, I can understand why people study it, and I don't know about the US, but here in Sweden they tend to get work the same moment they clear university. Biology is more fun though, would not trade it for anything right now.

Only one more exam to go. I'm pretty confident about my chemistry exam. I know I nailed at least 6 points extra credit, and I'm comfortable with everything except the vapor pressure question. (Not good with that).

Considering majoring in Chemistry instead of Biology when I get to actual college. For one, chem majors make the most out of any science undergrad degree, for another Biology is more political. (As in, I don't want to get fired when I'm asked about creationism and I tell them that it's bullshit :p)

If you like chemistry, definitely go that route. You can still do biology research if you want. You'll just make more money and be able to do more interesting science. :P

Nothing is more interesting than population ecology :P, but I can not deny the salary part. And chemistry IS very interesting, going to take a 10 week course after Christmas called "Basic Chemistry" myself

We were goofing off during break discussing who could freak out the boss on 1st shift the worst if given the opportunity in conversation (long story. looooooooong story). The guys made the usual suggestions like calling him a dick and I said they were amateurs at offending people (which they are). They asked how I could do better, and I gave them this example:

[spoiler]"Hey Frankie, you know what the best film in the entire goddamn world is?"

"Uh no...what?"

"The Passion of the Christ. You know why?"

"No...why?"

"Because it's the only movie in the world you can jack off to while watching Jesus Christ get skinned alive like he fucking deserves. The only way it could possibly be better is if they showed him dying on his knees with another mans cock in his mouth. You couldn't ask for a better turn on than that."[/spoiler]

That pretty much stunned them into open mouthed silence for something like 5 minutes. Well most of them. I think Frankie is still stunned. he didn't speak the rest of the night, he just sort of sat there staring into space...

Laughing at being a Finn. Just got back home utterly wasted after walking a few miles in heaps of snow, got here and had some vodka and now I am actually feel superior to the guy who, in a song, is described to be a bitter asshole, who has lost all hope in his life. Dear lord, I love being so pessimistic!

Today is my favorite holiday in the whole year: Taco Day!!! That, and New Year's Eve. For thirty years or so, my Aunt has held this tradition of serving tacos on New Year's Eve, and that's just delicious.

Thanksgiving is awesome; it's a holiday centered around eating. Taco Day is better because it's a holiday centered around eating tacos. Eat that, Puritans! Here's hoping I eat as much as possible while still being able to move later. :plotting

Bowen: Basically, I do three weight training and three cardio workouts a week, and take the seventh day off.

I split weight training into upper and lower body, alternating on weight training days (Two upper and a lower one week, two lower and an upper the next)

For weight training, I try to work until I literally am so tired I can't do anymore after 3 sets of 12. I lift with slow, controlled movements, and take twice as long to lower the weight as I did to lift it.

For cardio, I do interval training where I gradually increase intensity until I'm doing all I can for a minute, then drop down, doing 4 cycles of that over 20 minutes. Trust me, if you do it right, 20 minutes is all you need.

Basically, it is designed to be efficient, and to push me to my personal limits and beyond. I have been at a plateau for a long time because I wasn't pushing myself for a very long time. I am starting to see some nice improvements in the past week.

As for food, I assume one "portion" is about the size of my fist, and eat a portion of carb and a portion of protein 6 times a day, and try to get 2 portions of vegetable somewhere in there. (There aren't a lot of vegetables I can consume and not be violently ill, so I do supplement my diet with a multivitamin.

More power to you, dude! As someone who has been enjoying the benefits of losing extra weight, I know just how great it feels to look at yourself and think "DAMN I'm hot stuff!".

I do that already :p. But I think that there are enough pragmatic benefits to dropping some extra weight that it's still worth my time. Also, I'm limited by what clothes I can wear because of my awkward beer gut. (All my extra weight is literally in my abdomen. It makes me look off-balance.)

I stole my friends DS roughly two weeks back and played LOTS of "The world ends with you", almost finished it when my PS3 and Assassins Creed 2 arrived. I finished the latter roughly an hour back now and all I can say is "Need the third game!!!".

Ahhh, gaming night! I had forgotten how much of a stress reliever that is! AND I got to use my new obsidian dice set! :D

Don't overuse them, gem dice have a tendency to shatter more often than good plastic ones do. I used to own a set of snowflake agate dice that I only used for special occasions before it was stolen along with my brass dice.

Ahhh, gaming night! I had forgotten how much of a stress reliever that is! AND I got to use my new obsidian dice set! :D

Don't overuse them, gem dice have a tendency to shatter more often than good plastic ones do. I used to own a set of snowflake agate dice that I only used for special occasions before it was stolen along with my brass dice.

Gem dice work better when you roll them on a squooshy surface, so roll them in a padded box or something.

Thanks for the tips. I generally keep my character sheets and pages of game notes in individual plastic sleeves, and roll on that. The padded box idea isn't bad though, never have to worry about keeping it on a table.

Well, nobody likes having their bling dice go smash. And I've learned custom dice sometimes have an unexpectedly good bounce that can send them from a 6 inch drop onto padded plastic into a meter high drop off the tables and then 2-3 ricochets afterwards.

My household now have 2 more inhabitants in the form of two cats. The day I can afford it I will build a large sphere with a perfect environment for a few platypi and live with them however, but they will do for now.

Drank good Scotch with a buddy of mine I only get to see once or twice a year (he lives on the other side of the country). Swapped old stories and new ones, and he gave me a steel 'challenge coin' in the shape of a skull with a bullet hole in the forehead, inscribed "Face Shoot The Fuckers".

I was rear-ended today on my way to class. This is a good thing because a) I have no injuries worse than a bit of whiplash and b) we may finally be able to replace the 13-year-old van.

:lol Did you slam on your brakes really hard on purpose? :lmao

The USB controller on my motherboard went out, and I got a replacement that goes in the PCI slot. To my surprise, not only does it work for the slots that are part of the card, but it also "revived" all the original ones, too. :D

So far, me and my girl are getting along. She is very cool that I'm still scarred from my marriage. (I have what I call "Ex flashbacks" where I remember something that happened and literally fall into a fetal position and become unresponsive for a while. She understands.)

So far, me and my girl are getting along. She is very cool that I'm still scarred from my marriage. (I have what I call "Ex flashbacks" where I remember something that happened and literally fall into a fetal position and become unresponsive for a while. She understands.)

Given your previous relationships I'd say you deserve one hell of a nice woman to compensate. We're crossing our fingers for you.

Congrats. My wife's "conditional" status was removed from hers just a week or two ago, as well. Did you guys have to leave the country to wait for the approval? Or what?

We haven't been in Canada for like two and a half years, so we didn't have any of those sorts of problems. Of course, now it's all: "TWO MONTHS?! SHIT! GET THE BAGS! THROW EVERYTHING AWAY! ZOMG!!!eleventy-one!"

The funny thing is that if I hadn't stayed home sick today, I wouldn't have been here to sign for the package.

Congrats. My wife's "conditional" status was removed from hers just a week or two ago, as well. Did you guys have to leave the country to wait for the approval? Or what?

We haven't been in Canada for like two and a half years, so we didn't have any of those sorts of problems. Of course, now it's all: "TWO MONTHS?! SHIT! GET THE BAGS! THROW EVERYTHING AWAY! ZOMG!!!eleventy-one!"

The funny thing is that if I hadn't stayed home sick today, I wouldn't have been here to sign for the package.

I just found out I have a fairly large amount of money in the form of funds at two banks (I thank my family for that), enough to finance my trip to Borneo later this year, actually enough to do that 3,5 times if I wanted too!

This is great if I can''t find a scholarship willing to pay for some of it (as the trip is a part of my studies) or if I can't find any job at all this summer (both are actually a fairly likely possibilities).

Anyway I'M GOING TO BORNEO THIS AUTUMN!!! :D :D :D

It is for this kind of occasion I bought an original copy of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" for my record player

Yesterday, I went out to play some D&D with my friends. I have this standing joke with them that I can control weather. I'm home alone for the weekend and up to this morning, but I didn't think to close the windows before I went out in case it rained.

So we're playing, and I notice it starts raining. I comment out loud, "Oh fuck, my room better be dry when I get home."

We wrap it up, and it's still raining, but I'm not going out just yet. I comment out loud: "Fuck, this rain better have stopped when I have to go home".

And it does. I get home, and not only my room, but none of the rooms with open windows is wet.

At my snowboard trip I managed to fins a store where I could by myself the smoked heart of a reindeer, a delicious snack I tend to get my hand on only once every year. I love the northern part of this country!

Hitting Edinburgh for the weekend. Going to a Model UN conference and hoping to catch up with an extremely good friend who lives there as well. On top of that, I finally got the record I ordered a few weeks ago: Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine's The Audacity of Hype.

Going to a Superhero-themed party tonight. The first plan was to build an Optimus Prime-suit but we did not have the time so I'll be going as a Green Lantern. I'll see if I can get a pic up and revive that thread

Hitting Edinburgh for the weekend. Going to a Model UN conference and hoping to catch up with an extremely good friend who lives there as well. On top of that, I finally got the record I ordered a few weeks ago: Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine's The Audacity of Hype.

Canada has 13 gold medals! Apparently that's the most gold medals any one country has won in Winter Olympic history! There are two more medal events - Mens 50k cross-country skiing (in which there are four Canadians), and the Ice Hockey championship game between Canada and the US. If Canada can pull off the win in either (or both) of those events, it'll be a world record for the host country! :D

Canada has 13 gold medals! Apparently that's the most gold medals any one country has won in Winter Olympic history! There are two more medal events - Mens 50k cross-country skiing (in which there are four Canadians), and the Ice Hockey championship game between Canada and the US. If Canada can pull off the win in either (or both) of those events, it'll be a world record for the host country! :D

Sounds like Canada is kicking ass this year. I should expect no less of Wolverine's home country. :p

Canada has 13 gold medals! Apparently that's the most gold medals any one country has won in Winter Olympic history! There are two more medal events - Mens 50k cross-country skiing (in which there are four Canadians), and the Ice Hockey championship game between Canada and the US. If Canada can pull off the win in either (or both) of those events, it'll be a world record for the host country! :D

Sounds like Canada is kicking ass this year. I should expect no less of Wolverine's home country. :p

Yeah, well we had a slow start and were fighting Norway and South Korea for 3rd & 4th for a while, but then in one day we went from 10 medals to 13! Now we just gotta mop up the Americans in Ice Hockey. :p

Canada has 13 gold medals! Apparently that's the most gold medals any one country has won in Winter Olympic history! There are two more medal events - Mens 50k cross-country skiing (in which there are four Canadians), and the Ice Hockey championship game between Canada and the US. If Canada can pull off the win in either (or both) of those events, it'll be a world record for the host country! :D

Sounds like Canada is kicking ass this year. I should expect no less of Wolverine's home country. :p

Yeah, well we had a slow start and were fighting Norway and South Korea for 3rd & 4th for a while, but then in one day we went from 10 medals to 13! Now we just gotta mop up the Americans in Ice Hockey. :p

How hard can it be? Hockey is Canada's official sport, ain't it?

Although, it IS an Olympics event.

(Just as a side note: Brazil has been World Champion about 5 times. It has never won a SINGLE Olympic Medal above bronze, ever. Therefore, I have sneaking suspicions about Olympics of any kind. :P)

I just finished a four-page biography, and with it the first third or so of one of four big papers I need to write. Ideally I already wanted to be starting on my second by this time, but I'm happy with just making progress.

I took care of a French assignment, wrote out a three-page long part for a musical piece our band is performing, did nearly half of a physics assignment due next Tuesday (we haven't covered all the subjects, else I'd have done more), and now I'm working on stuff for a Visual Basic class. Quite a productive day.

I just finished a four-page biography, and with it the first third or so of one of four big papers I need to write. Ideally I already wanted to be starting on my second by this time, but I'm happy with just making progress.

I just finished a four-page biography, and with it the first third or so of one of four big papers I need to write. Ideally I already wanted to be starting on my second by this time, but I'm happy with just making progress.

Hitting Edinburgh for the weekend. Going to a Model UN conference and hoping to catch up with an extremely good friend who lives there as well. On top of that, I finally got the record I ordered a few weeks ago: Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School of Medicine's The Audacity of Hype.

Some people might've already realised that picking a new signature quote is a big thing for me. I am happy to announce that here it comes from a Finnish band whose absolutist singers made all the best songs about depression, booze and stupidity I have ever heard.

Got myself a 2-day festival booked for this summer. Best names on the list so far is Skid Row, Europe (http://europetheband.com/homepage.html) and Nocturnal Rites (http://www.myspace.com/nocturnalrites).

On the other hand, not only will I miss Mark Knopfler's show this summer, Kiss also thought it was a good idea to play on the same date as Uematsu...

Got myself a 2-day festival booked for this summer. Best names on the list so far is Skid Row, Europe (http://europetheband.com/homepage.html) and Nocturnal Rites (http://www.myspace.com/nocturnalrites).

On the other hand, not only will I miss Mark Knopfler's show this summer, Kiss also thought it was a good idea to play on the same date as Uematsu...

I missed Kiss last concert in Sweden as well. This was as a result of the celebration that comes with finishing secondary. The sad part is, I also missed Dio's concert as a result of this and did not even like my class. Sometimes I think fate likes to tease the living hell out of me

Just finished moving to a desk that has more room, it's in a busier area (I'm no longer tucked away in a dark corner) and receives indirect sunlight (and occasionally direct sunlight!). It's blows the little dungeon corner I had before out. of. the. water.

Just finished moving to a desk that has more room, it's in a busier area (I'm no longer tucked away in a dark corner) and receives indirect sunlight (and occasionally direct sunlight!). It's blows the little dungeon corner I had before out. of. the. water.

Just finished moving to a desk that has more room, it's in a busier area (I'm no longer tucked away in a dark corner) and receives indirect sunlight (and occasionally direct sunlight!). It's blows the little dungeon corner I had before out. of. the. water.

Just finished moving to a desk that has more room, it's in a busier area (I'm no longer tucked away in a dark corner) and receives indirect sunlight (and occasionally direct sunlight!). It's blows the little dungeon corner I had before out. of. the. water.

I missed Kiss last concert in Sweden as well. This was as a result of the celebration that comes with finishing secondary. The sad part is, I also missed Dio's concert as a result of this and did not even like my class. Sometimes I think fate likes to tease the living hell out of me

The comic kicks a lot of butt, I was naive and thought the camera would come with a small memory stick so I could try it out though. This was (obviously) not the case so I have to wait until tomorrow when I can buy one to try it out...

The comic kicks a lot of butt, I was naive and thought the camera would come with a small memory stick so I could try it out though. This was (obviously) not the case so I have to wait until tomorrow when I can buy one to try it out...

Thank you? (Is this directed towards me?)

edit: On a completely separate note, I finally finished the Kodonur Crossroads mission in Guild Wars: Nightfall last night, followed by the "Mysterious Message" quest chain that adds the Master of Whispers hero to your party. I didn't know he was voiced by the guy who played Holtz on Angel. Bitchin'!

The one female presidential candidate we had in the last election here (a month or so ago) has ten children, all named after Germanic heroes and whatnot, is married to a known neonazi, and had to make a statutory declaration so people would believe her that she genuinely thinks the holocaust happened (and many still don't buy it).

Living in Ohio my options seem to be choose a right wing theological fascist, a right wing racist fascist, a left wing criminal, or a hopelessly naive and possibly incompetent independent. At least thats what a lot of local elections feel like.

First good gaming session in a long time! I'm beginning to grasp what it takes to be a DM, and my players (all newbies) has begun to learn the system.

That's a great feeling, ain't it?

I lack the words to describe it, I feel so incredibly satisfied.

On another note, I got an opportunity to try out my new camera at a couple of owls during Friday, if anyone is interested, this (http://s754.photobucket.com/albums/xx189/Mullman89/Foto) is how it turned out

Thanks. I am especially fond of this one[spoiler](http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx189/Mullman89/Foto/DSC00055.jpg)[/spoiler] because of the little guy to the left. For some reason that face cracks me up

Living in Ohio my options seem to be choose a right wing theological fascist, a right wing racist fascist, a left wing criminal, or a hopelessly naive and possibly incompetent independent. At least thats what a lot of local elections feel like.

Just got back from the Distant Worlds (http://www.ffdistantworlds.com/) show. Awesome orchestra playing awesome Final Fantasy songs with the man himself, Uematsu, in the audience (he also joined the choir during "One Winged Angel").

This was without a doubt the best show I have ever seen, I almost started weeping twice, succeeded once and I now have the autograph of both Uematsu and Arnie Roth. It took me roughly 20 minutes to gather my thought enough to speak properly afterwards because of the pure awesome I had been bombarded with for a few hours.

Distant Worlds II (http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Worlds-II-music-FANTASY/dp/B003KJ4C2U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1276441643&sr=1-2), but it is a studio recording (so Uematsu is probably not in the choir). Arnie said something about the show being recorded though, so they might release a live-cd. Since they gave us a sneak-a-peak at the 14th game (both visual and a song) they might wait a while before they release it

I have to do some animal physiology (everything single chapter in the book after 5 weeks it seems) on Thursday. Bah, the plants were more fun and easier to learn... Well, if I can clear this I only have to work out some lab reports from my chemistry course (they waited ten weeks to tell us we had to change some things :banghead) and then then I'll have nothing but ecology for the rest of my time at the university :D

My thoughts exactly. Made me think of the scene from "Natural Born Killers" where she shoots the random dude who's going down on her, and says "Next time don't be so god damned eager!" I hope your "instructors" aren't as harsh with their discipline methodology. :p

My thoughts exactly. Made me think of the scene from "Natural Born Killers" where she shoots the random dude who's going down on her, and says "Next time don't be so god damned eager!" I hope your "instructors" aren't as harsh with their discipline methodology. :p

Screw you guys too. :P Oh well, might as well play along.

Got nearly perfect grades. Was close to hyperventilating at 7 am, but I got better as I kept doing well. Had the hardest one first, too. Rest were a piece of cake.

My thoughts exactly. Made me think of the scene from "Natural Born Killers" where she shoots the random dude who's going down on her, and says "Next time don't be so god damned eager!" I hope your "instructors" aren't as harsh with their discipline methodology. :p

Screw you guys too. :P Oh well, might as well play along.

Got nearly perfect grades. Was close to hyperventilating at 7 am, but I got better as I kept doing well. Had the hardest one first, too. Rest were a piece of cake.

RuisRock today after work. Three days of awesome music, sun, drinking and meeting people. Interesting to see how Ozzy Osbourne performs tonight, he seemed pretty energetic five years ago with Black Sababth...

This show was like Insane. By far the most awesome thing I've ever experimented. Heck Bruce even made the whole show in French (except for the songs of course :P). We were around 80k+ and the crowd was great. Seriously Maiden is a step up over the other bands :D

Congrats. I've been losing some weight myself lately. It's nice to have to wear a belt with pants I couldn't even comfortably fit into not long ago. :D I don't know exactly how much I've lost as the battery is dead in our scale. :P (And it's one of those annoying little watch-type batteries...)

Congrats. I've been losing some weight myself lately. It's nice to have to wear a belt with pants I couldn't even comfortably fit into not long ago. :D I don't know exactly how much I've lost as the battery is dead in our scale. :P (And it's one of those annoying little watch-type batteries...)

Oh god, not those. The ones that are impossible to find and even worse to install?

Yesterday I pushed an update of a project into production with seemingly no issues. This morning, I find five emails in my inbox all related to problems with this project. I got pretty worried because I get dinged on my performance if I push things to production with defects. I read through them all and they were all user-error.

Finally I think I have fixed most of the plans for my vacation. Flight tickets ordered, cruise tickets arranged, dates fixed... Now to find an apartment in Scotland and this'll be a decent year. Maybe.

Woe to you oh earth and sea, for he sends the Devil with wrathBecause he knows that time is short.Let those who hath understanding reckon the number of the beastFor it is a human number.Its number is six-hundred and sixty-six.

I've never worked with solid state drives before, so I didn't know they need a 2.5 inch form factor bay and not the standard 3.5 inch bay that a normal hard drive uses. Translation: I can't properly mount one of my two drives!

Well, I can, but I don't feel like fucking around with zip ties and half-assing it. It's the single most expensive component of the PC, so I might as well spend an extra $7 and get an adapter. The only real sucky thing is that it will take a few days to get that last part and the PC is otherwise assembled. I have another drive in there for mass storage, but I want the OS on the SSD. Oh well. I can wait three more days, I guess. Honestly, I wasn't expecting the thing to arrive today anyway.

I'm seriously just considering leaving it out as Phaedrus suggested for a day or two so I can install the OS and other software, but I've already ordered the adapter. Although, I can only do this a few hours at night. I have two cats and an almost-two-year-old daughter, so leaving the case open long term isn't really an option.

But yeah, I was looking on-line for tips, and there's no shortage of people who either leave it sit on the bottom of their case or duct tape it to a side panel.

It's hopefully a moot point. I checked my order confirmation, and supposedly, it's due to arrive today, which is really pretty cool. Less than 18 hours order to delivery is pretty good for a 3-7 day ground shipment.

Anyway, if it does show up today, then I can mount it all before I put power to the thing for the first time.

Frost outside :D, hopefully autumn will be over quickly so winter can start

Sadist. ;)

Maaaaayyyyybe :pStill, my efficiency rate is at its peak when outside temperature is at -5 to -8 degrees Celsius. Sure, temperature here usually drops to -30 a few times each winter, but I prefer that to the 30 degrees we had this summer any day (I had to counter that by sneaking into the house foundation with a book)

Im part way through the second playing, have all the puzzle games unlocked, 75% of the minigames unlocked, and half or more of the survival modes unlocked.

WTF is the Zen Garden for? Just extra coins? It currently seems like I spend more on it than i get back out.

Eh, it gets better for that purpose later. Basically, once you've got a full garden of marigolds and some chocolate (plus the snail) you can feed the snail one chocolate, go watch a movie or something, and he'll pick up all the coins for you. Also, you can sell the plants (hint: Marigolds aren't worth selling, every other plant is).

^^While they are not fully grown, it's worth it to tend them to full growth, since they drop a diamond at full bloom.Also, it's sorta fun to fill the place with as many varieties as you can find. I mostly sell them until the garden is about 3/4 full so more seeds drop.

Managed to establish contact with my relatives in Australia, seems I will be able to pay them a visit (with them paying what seems to be 50% of the cost of the trip) before I head into the rainforests of Malaysia in February!

And as an extra topping my relatives live along the east coast so I might just get the chance to see a real platypus...

Managed to establish contact with my relatives in Australia, seems I will be able to pay them a visit (with them paying what seems to be 50% of the cost of the trip) before I head into the rainforests of Malaysia in February!

And as an extra topping my relatives live along the east coast so I might just get the chance to see a real platypus...

Managed to establish contact with my relatives in Australia, seems I will be able to pay them a visit (with them paying what seems to be 50% of the cost of the trip) before I head into the rainforests of Malaysia in February!

And as an extra topping my relatives live along the east coast so I might just get the chance to see a real platypus...

Be careful. Can't trust anything with a duck's bill.

Should I actually see one there is a high probability of me ascending to Nirvana, so I'll manage.

Just spent a while crawling the Less Wrong (http://lesswrong.com/) wiki. I currently feel an incredible sense of contentment, which is hard to describe other than as "the opposite of the feeling I get when I argue with my grandfather".

I haven't slept in the last 29 hours. In exchange, I got most of my homework for the upcoming week done, meaning mroe free time. Also, I got to visit the university's particle accelerator. So right now, I'm feeling like a very happy physics geek zombie.

Description: Went to your first job interview ever and got yourself a job within 30 minutes of said interview.

I just got a job offer, but it's for quite a bit less money that I was hoping for... I think the potential for upward mobility with the company is quite good, though. Still debating it. I guess I'll try to negotiate with them, and also if I can get any other offers or opportunities.

It turns out they won't hire me without a worker ID (unsure what the english term for this would be), so I didn't get the job after all, but I still find it awesome that I aced my very first job interview.

I just landed a new job. My first "real" job after finishing my PhD (did a couple post-docs between). After negotiating a bit, they gave me almost as much money as I'd asked for, and had no problem putting off my start date for a month to accommodate the 2 week vacation to Hawaii my wife and I are taking to celebrate our 5th year anniversary. They also said a promotion is likely within 6 months or so. Life is goooood. 0:)

I just landed a new job. My first "real" job after finishing my PhD (did a couple post-docs between). After negotiating a bit, they gave me almost as much money as I'd asked for, and had no problem putting off my start date for a month to accommodate the 2 week vacation to Hawaii my wife and I are taking to celebrate our 5th year anniversary. They also said a promotion is likely within 6 months or so. Life is goooood. 0:)

My mom asked me to take her laptop case to where she worked, because there were some documents in it. So rule one of the place I was headed is that I had to dress relatively nice.

As I was heading there, a guy not much bigger than me but built like a ton of bricks (typical gym rat) walks up to me and starts the classic mugger talk. As in "I've got two other guys with me, give me your wallet and your laptop and you won't get hurt." I was listening to music as I walked, and perhaps not by accident, this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ1dEU0IRO0) started playing. I reply to him that whether he wants to announce to the world that he likes guys is not my problem and that I had already donated to the local mentally challenged NGO this year. So he gets pissy and pulls a knife. Now, this wasn't just some pussy switchblade, it was a full-on, Rambo-style hunting knife. So he asks for my wallet again. I respond that I forgot it at his sister's nightstand last time I visited her workplace.

The guy lunges. My body reacted before I did, falling back on my kenjutsu training days, and I dodge to the side, punch his arm, grab his wrist and twist it high above his back, then grab the knife. The guy was yelping a lot more than I expected him to, and his arm was really limp, I have no idea why. Maybe I broke something. Anyway. I tell him I got enough shit to do as it is and am not in the mood for his faggotry. Then I kick him in the ass, spit on the guy, toss the knife aside and turn around.

I don't take more than a couple of steps before he yells "Sonuvabiiiiiiiiitch" and I start turning around. I see him throw the knife outta the corner of my eye and swing my arm wide to bat it away. I end up snatching it off the air instead.

"You've got no fucking technique. Let me show you how it's done."

He starts running, I close my eyes and toss the knife his way. It wedges clean in the back of his thigh, no more than a dozen centimeters away from his ass. And then I walk away.

Coming from anyone else, I wouldn't have believed a goddamn word of it.

My best friend from high school has a blackbelt and taught at a dojo for a while (while he was still in HS). After HS, he went into the marines where he was ranked first in marksmenship in his class, and was then placed on a rapid-response anti-terrorist squad. After his tour of duty ended, he was a police officer, and he still volunteers to teach self-defense to the police force, although he has since moved on to a job that offers more pay for less risk (he sells insurance...). If he told me that story, I'd believe it. But I certainly wouldn't from most other people. :P

Coming from anyone else, I wouldn't have believed a goddamn word of it.

My best friend from high school has a blackbelt and taught at a dojo for a while (while he was still in HS). After HS, he went into the marines where he was ranked first in marksmenship in his class, and was then placed on a rapid-response anti-terrorist squad. After his tour of duty ended, he was a police officer, and he still volunteers to teach self-defense to the police force, although he has since moved on to a job that offers more pay for less risk (he sells insurance...). If he told me that story, I'd believe it. But I certainly wouldn't from most other people. :P

Glad you put that most in there, Phaedrus. :P

But seriously, now that I think about it, it scares the crap out of me. I tend to get by on luck most of the time, and everyone knows luck doesn't last forever. If I could at least figure out how I pull things like those off, I could minimize the danger.

Well, maybe one other person. Of course, he's survived being electrocuted while working on power lines and the subsequent fall, taught martial arts for as long as I can remember, has two separate dojos where I live, has a picture of himself and Chuck Norris--but yeah, not many people. It's a testament to Kuroi's sheer manliness.

Well, maybe one other person. Of course, he's survived being electrocuted while working on power lines and the subsequent fall, taught martial arts for as long as I can remember, has two separate dojos where I live, has a picture of himself and Chuck Norris--but yeah, not many people. It's a testament to Kuroi's sheer manliness.

I feel honored that you'd compare me to someone who survived electrocution. I don't think the beam incident counts as much against that, really.

To be fair, I don't have much in the way of comparison, since I've never been struck by a falling girder. :P I have been electrocuted twice--not by power lines, but the strength of the shock was enough both times to prove that I have (or had) some pretty damned good luck. But I'd say your feats definitely compare with his.

To be fair, I don't have much in the way of comparison, since I've never been struck by a falling girder. :P I have been electrocuted twice--not by power lines, but the strength of the shock was enough both times to prove that I have (or had) some pretty damned good luck. But I'd say your feats definitely compare with his.

To be fair, I don't have much in the way of comparison, since I've never been struck by a falling girder. :P I have been electrocuted twice--not by power lines, but the strength of the shock was enough both times to prove that I have (or had) some pretty damned good luck. But I'd say your feats definitely compare with his.

I was shocked by a wall outlet current once. I'm not sure that counts as being electrocuted, as I thought that implied that you died from it... :p

To be fair, I don't have much in the way of comparison, since I've never been struck by a falling girder. :P I have been electrocuted twice--not by power lines, but the strength of the shock was enough both times to prove that I have (or had) some pretty damned good luck. But I'd say your feats definitely compare with his.

I was shocked by a wall outlet current once. I'm not sure that counts as being electrocuted, as I thought that implied that you died from it... :p

In the sense that it stopped my heart both times, yes. So I suppose technically I'm undead now. :P

Best thing I got is having been in indirect contact with a cut power cord. Said indirect contact consisted mostly of plastic, though, so I didn't actually get a shock. Does the fact I was a kid count for extra credit? :P

To be fair, I don't have much in the way of comparison, since I've never been struck by a falling girder. :P I have been electrocuted twice--not by power lines, but the strength of the shock was enough both times to prove that I have (or had) some pretty damned good luck. But I'd say your feats definitely compare with his.

I was shocked by a wall outlet current once. I'm not sure that counts as being electrocuted, as I thought that implied that you died from it... :p

In the sense that it stopped my heart both times, yes. So I suppose technically I'm undead now. :P

Best thing I got is having been in indirect contact with a cut power cord. Said indirect contact consisted mostly of plastic, though, so I didn't actually get a shock. Does the fact I was a kid count for extra credit? :P

I was a pretty stupid kid, thinking back.

I once unfolded a paper clip, held it with a book, and stuck it into a wall outlet. I was actually already in detention at the time... the monitor just happened to have left me alone for a few minutes...

And no, that wasn't the time that I was actually shocked by a wall current...

I found links to download two soundtracks that I thought were lost FOREVER in the flowing sands of the internet, because they belonged to semi-obscure '90s SNK OAVs that only Brazillians born in the 80's could possibly care about. :D

I got hit by a car doing 50km/h when I was 8... That is the most dramatic "Injury" in my life and I walked out of it with a headache, a large bruise and a pair of way to big underpants (gift from the hospital, 13 years later they still don't fit).

Technically the worst injury I've felt was being hit in the head with a paint can (long story), falling off a two story house because of it, and landing on the back edge of hte plastic seat of a riding mower on my breastbone. Bruised it all the way down to the bone but amazingly i had no cracked or broken bones.

On the other hand I've also somehow managed to fracture three thoracic vertebrae and herniate a lumbar disk without realizing it.

To be fair, I don't have much in the way of comparison, since I've never been struck by a falling girder. :P I have been electrocuted twice--not by power lines, but the strength of the shock was enough both times to prove that I have (or had) some pretty damned good luck. But I'd say your feats definitely compare with his.

I was shocked by a wall outlet current once. I'm not sure that counts as being electrocuted, as I thought that implied that you died from it... :p

In the sense that it stopped my heart both times, yes. So I suppose technically I'm undead now. :P

Best thing I got is having been in indirect contact with a cut power cord. Said indirect contact consisted mostly of plastic, though, so I didn't actually get a shock. Does the fact I was a kid count for extra credit? :P

I was a pretty stupid kid, thinking back.

I once unfolded a paper clip, held it with a book, and stuck it into a wall outlet. I was actually already in detention at the time... the monitor just happened to have left me alone for a few minutes...

And no, that wasn't the time that I was actually shocked by a wall current...

Paper clip?Try constructing your own power cable and socket from scrap wire after the parental units confiscated the computer power cable.

I've had two very productive days. Yesterday I wrote one exam, had one important meeting about the future of the chefs at our student union and followed that with a somewhat fancy dinner. Today I've got loads of exercise both through two somewhat longer walks in -15 centigrades and in between those one heavy metal concert. Man, I'm tired...

I just started my vacation and found out we have an offer on our house! It's been on the market for six months, and we took it off three days ago, figuring we'd put it up again in the spring, so we wouldn't have to move in the winter. Now we need to start looking for a new house!

It seems the European Union is up to something good http://www.thelocal.se/31040/20101223/ (http://www.thelocal.se/31040/20101223/)It's about time someone gave the distilled essence of retardation that is the Environment Minister of Sweden a good old kick in his political nuts.

Today was the first time something exploded in Physics class (intentionally, mind). :bounce

Fun! Videos?

I know most experiments are recorded, but I don't see a video on our wiki, unfortunately. If I see it uploaded, I'll link it.

For the record, the experiment involved air being compressed so fast that it heated up enough to ignite a pellet of easily flammable material (the exact name escapes me, but I know it started with pyro-, which should tell you something about the stuff, and it ignites around 180°C).

In unrelated by no less happy news, yesterday was the first time in a long while that I wrote a character background in one go with minimal interruptions, despite it turning out longer than most other backgrounds I've written recently. Refreshing, to say the least. It was also my first Changeling character.

It was. If you come by you can have the t-shirt I bought with this print [spoiler](http://best-tshirts-ever.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/slavery-gets-shit-done-tshirt1.png)[/spoiler] otherwise you are out of luck.

I've met a living and breathing platypus now, I've hand fed a kangaroo (and eaten another one) and I got to see the Borneo Bristlehead (ornithologists may stare in awe now) as well as a bioluminescent fungus. The journey was full of great moments from the first day I sat my foot in Melbourne to the day I left Kuala Lumpur to head home.

Oh, and this douchebag tried to cut in front of the line at the bank, and so I said, "Sorry, this line is ordered by IQ from largest to smallest, and you belong in the back of the line forever." "What you gonna do about it?"

The presentation of my thesis went well. I've never, ever, been that nervous before. But it is now over and my family bought me a new computer as a replacement for my previous one that died a week ago :D.

The presentation of my thesis went well. I've never, ever, been that nervous before. But it is now over and my family bought me a new computer as a replacement for my previous one that died a week ago :D.

The presentation of my thesis went well. I've never, ever, been that nervous before. But it is now over and my family bought me a new computer as a replacement for my previous one that died a week ago :D.

Congrats, dude! :clap

Thank you, having that out of the way is a great relief. As soon as I've made the final changes to my report they can print it and I can move on and start working on my Master's.

The presentation of my thesis went well. I've never, ever, been that nervous before. But it is now over and my family bought me a new computer as a replacement for my previous one that died a week ago :D.

Congrats, dude! :clap

Thank you, having that out of the way is a great relief. As soon as I've made the final changes to my report they can print it and I can move on and start working on my Master's.

I envy you guys with a superior education. :P

I have a myriad of different pockets of knowledge in my brain, but I don't have a degree for any of them.

The presentation of my thesis went well. I've never, ever, been that nervous before. But it is now over and my family bought me a new computer as a replacement for my previous one that died a week ago :D.

Congrats, dude! :clap

Thank you, having that out of the way is a great relief. As soon as I've made the final changes to my report they can print it and I can move on and start working on my Master's.

I envy you guys with a superior education. :P

I have a myriad of different pockets of knowledge in my brain, but I don't have a degree for any of them.

Is "human encyclopaedia" a job?

Probably not. Veekie doesn't get paid for being his friends', for one.

The presentation of my thesis went well. I've never, ever, been that nervous before. But it is now over and my family bought me a new computer as a replacement for my previous one that died a week ago :D.

Congrats, dude! :clap

Thank you, having that out of the way is a great relief. As soon as I've made the final changes to my report they can print it and I can move on and start working on my Master's.

I envy you guys with a superior education. :P

I have a myriad of different pockets of knowledge in my brain, but I don't have a degree for any of them.

Is "human encyclopaedia" a job?

Probably not. Veekie doesn't get paid for being his friends', for one.

The presentation of my thesis went well. I've never, ever, been that nervous before. But it is now over and my family bought me a new computer as a replacement for my previous one that died a week ago :D.

The presentation of my thesis went well. I've never, ever, been that nervous before. But it is now over and my family bought me a new computer as a replacement for my previous one that died a week ago :D.

Congrats, dude! :clap

Thank you, having that out of the way is a great relief. As soon as I've made the final changes to my report they can print it and I can move on and start working on my Master's.

I envy you guys with a superior education. :P

I have a myriad of different pockets of knowledge in my brain, but I don't have a degree for any of them.

Is "human encyclopaedia" a job?

Probably not. Veekie doesn't get paid for being his friends', for one.

Well, its all in the 'nice to know but wouldn't pay to know' category...

The presentation of my thesis went well. I've never, ever, been that nervous before. But it is now over and my family bought me a new computer as a replacement for my previous one that died a week ago :D.

Was just about to write to the rant thread about not getting my exam and course marks yet although pretty much all other courses had published theirs, but then they finally arrived. Fuck the people, who get less than a 90% average from courses.

Man, the last weeks have been fiendishly busy. I've been coping with constant lack of money, working on my university stuff for next semester and arranging my summer job (it's abroad) issues with very little time to rest in between.

Now I am alone, well-fed and about to step to the terrace to smoke a fag and enjoy what's rest of my glass of cognac. Damn this feels nice.

Turns out one of the other players decided to draw a scene from the session. Yes, we did have this exact conversation[spoiler](http://d.facdn.net/art/owlor/1311688924.owlor_diplomacy_copy.jpg)[/spoiler]

theres a guy there who's only job is to marinate pork chops overnight while digging a charcoal pit to roast them on. He has a separate space for roasting corn, and dips it in melted butter before serving. He is my favoritest person there besides hte german woman who makes homemade bread and jams/butters.

Meh, it was nothing major. I was passing by a construction site and I suddenly hear this loud scream. I look up and this guy was falling towards me. Without thinking, I spread my legs as though I were riding a horse and caught the guy princess-style.

Meh, it was nothing major. I was passing by a construction site and I suddenly hear this loud scream. I look up and this guy was falling towards me. Without thinking, I spread my legs as though I were riding a horse and caught the guy princess-style.

My second daughter was just born this morning. She was a couple weeks early, but is quite healthy. It was fun watching my older daughter get to meet her today. I think it's still setting in for her, and it probably won't be real for her until my wife and newborn come home from the hospital.

My stepfather and his mother celebrated their birthday today, so mom and a few friends threw together a barbecue. My cute little "borrowed" cousin Joana (12 months old and teething) also attended. At one point, she started crying and no one seemed able to console her.

My stepfather and his mother celebrated their birthday today, so mom and a few friends threw together a barbecue. My cute little "borrowed" cousin Joana (12 months old and teething) also attended. At one point, she started crying and no one seemed able to console her.

Something funny happened on my workout today. My coach (as I dislike the term personal trainer) told me we'd be trying a different kind of push-up today where you cross your legs and pull them up towards your head repeatedly. He said I should use some sort of support to do it though, so we put all the weights I have on the bar I use for bench-pressing, and then to make sure it wouldn't move he held it down.

So we got started, and lo and behold, the bar moved roughly six inches off the floor. So he started holding it down with both hands, pushing it down with his weight while we counted.

I still lifted it each time. All 54 kilograms of it, plus however many kilograms he was pushing down as force.